I’ve been with the same small company since 19, I’m 36 now.
I started on a lowly wage doing basic jobs on the shop floor of a printing company and I’ve progressed through to where i am now. I am still in Production but I’ve a decent salary, I am my own boss to an extent, managing my own time and jobs. Im well trusted and respected in my little Job.
There is an opportunity to move in to sales and I’ve put my name forward.
Really cant decide if this will be a good move. The boss seems keen and is thinking about how to restructure the other staff to cover me.
I’m sure the pricing side of things will be ok and I’ve acquired a good knowledge of all the processes involved in print. but this will be really out of my comfort zone.
Anyone had a similar progression through their Job?
I’m not going any where else with the job im doing now..
Shall i crack on?

Have a go. It sounds like you are respected by the company, so if it doesn’t work out you could move back?

If you have good knowledge of the product and the price is right you are half way there.

good knowledge of the product

This is something that I’ve found lacking in lots of sales people over the last few years. Just spouting lots of buzz words and cant really answer anything about the product and have to refer to ‘their technical team’.

Perhaps ask to shadow a sales person for a day or two or sit down and have a chat with them and see what’s involved day to day? If it still sounds OK then give it a go.

I would say try and see how it goes.
I’ve tried sales jobs and it’s just not for me and didn’t enjoy it at all.

Sales is great when its all going well, but not when its not!

That’s why tenacity is the sales persons best tool overall. However, if your job is ‘soft’ selling then great product knowledge, a friendly approach and a bit of personality will help you go far. as previously suggested, if the product is any good and competitively priced, then why not?

I know stuff all about selling, but I do have a lot of reps from printers after me.

From any printer, I want a quiet life and a good price. If you can’t achieve a Delta-E of 2.5 or less on everything that leaves your premises (or can’t convince me that you can!), it’s not happening.

Beyond that, it’s all about how you can add value. This can mean having a basic design studio to update and modify artwork when needed. If you’re flexo, that means a good pre-press setup with CTP and proofing abilities that will save me giving a pre-press house £££. Litho, it means someone who can provide good technical advice – often this will be as simple as sense checking a design to make sure a printer in China with an ancient press has any shot at achieving it. If you have your own plant in other countries, then even better.

If you’ve not got any of the value added abilities, then it’s going to be a much harder sell.

As a technical bloke, the key thing is making sure you have the people skills to make it fly – presumably your boss thinks you have the skills if he’s keen for you to do it.

Avoid sales job by all means unless it is your own company. Fact! i.e. no sales no food.

However, you can give it a try but make sure you have something to come back to.

Print selling is not easy as everything is going digital so you will face very tough competition if you have super doper printing machine cost to cover etc …

Technical skill is handy but if the customers do not like your look, regardless of how good you are at your work, you will not sell.

Not everything’s going digital. Sell millions a year of something and the packaging will either litho or gravure…

Your boss sounds like he likes you and respects you – I’d discuss your concerns with him, especially those about ‘what if sales isn’t for me?’ and see what he says. Although there’s a reason that the clichéd salesperson does exist and often does very well, a lot of customers would be happier buying from someone like yourself, who actually knows and understands the business in a deeper way.

I guess it depends on how self motivated you are as sales especially new business requires this. If it’s account management style sales this is less important and your tech skills are more important.
I work in print management so meet many sales people of both types and the sales types are a dying breed, especially when dealing with larger clients.
If your boss believes in you and there is a route back to your old job should it not work out I’d go for it.

Thanks for the replies.
To be fair we have a really good setup that requires very little hard sell. Were involved with Fsc and have just been Iso 9001 accredited so quality is of a high standard.
We have Litho, Digital and large format printing covered.
Pre-press is very capable but not actual designers. So amends and basic design work is part of the service.
Most finishing is done in house.
We’ve also a good Client list already so most work will be repeat jobs from existing Companies and my main role will be to serve these existing customers. Many i already know.
Ill see how things progress today and I’ve mentioned my concerns already so maybe a trial period would be good for us all.
Thanks again!